Have you ever followed a recipe.....

I mean to the T and it came out disappointing? Well that happened to me, just about now lol. I have family coming tomorrow and I'm making a meal for everyone. Part of that is a bread recipe I finish out in my cast iron dutch oven I just reseasoned. It didn't rise like they said it would. Swear I followed it.

All the time. Thats why you find other guinea pigs before doing "special" meals.

The key is to google "5 star" recipes. I always find them good.

It seemed so simple, that's why I tackled it. Ding dang, I'm not sure how I could screw up three ingredients, but apparently I did.

Fresh yeast?

care to post the recipe? or link to same?

I always have troubles making bread. In fact, my luck is so bad that when I visit my brother, even his bread fails miserably. So now when I come to visit, he makes it in advance!

i would say if your bread didnt rise you either didnt wait long enough, your kitchen was cold, you added to hot of water to your yeast, or your yeast was to old and was dead.

Fresh store bought yeast. Here is what I followed.

The only thing I seem to be able to follow a recipe for is disaster and ice. Lol.

Is your dutch oven bigger than the one shown there? if so, itll not rise as much do the bread having to expand more sideways than upwards.

Not sure Sniper. I just reseasoned my old dutch oven.

Try it again, maybe your water wasn't hot enough?

You have my curiosity up - I'm going to try this recipe now.

Cool Jim, let me know!

Got it started, mine doesn't look quite as sticky as the dough in the video. My water temp was 125 degrees that I used. She recommends not over 130.

Mines in the oven Jim. Guess we'll see lol.

Well, maybe I cried wolf because of ignorance lol. It rose higher in the oven and is now baking uncovered for 20 minutes.

I use yeast a lot. I wouldn't go over 110 degrees on the water.

very hot water kills yeast. body temperature water is plenty warm enough. if you took her at face value and let tap water get all the way hot that is the problem, i also think 1/4 teaspoon of yeast is not near enough. bread dough usually has a little sugar in it too to get the yeast doing its thing. p.s. never heard of letting bread raise all night.

To soften up bread crust you put butter on it as soon as you get it out of the oven and dump it out of the pan. All bread has a crunchy crust if you dont.


Gramma taught me to make bread. Dont really measure anything. Put some flour in a bowl. It should be room temperature so if its stored in a pantry bring it in the kitchen and let it sit awhile this time of year. Add in a little sugar. Not enough to make it sweet. A little salt. Melt some butter and put that in. You want water the same temperature as what you do a baby bottle. The same as your skin temperature. Not hot or cold. Start with a half glass . Add in a tablespoon of yeast and stir it up good. A tinfoil package is good too. You want to dissolve most if not all of it. Add it to the flour. Start mixing. You want it real thick. Like pie crust dough or pizza dough. Put flour on your hands and on the counter. Dump it out on the counter and knead it. You can add flour or water to get the dough right. It shouldn't be real sticky at all but it should all stick together in a big lump. You have to knead it for awhile. Put a dish towel over it and let it double in size in a warm kitchen. 80-85 is perfect. Knead it back down to its original size. Grease your bread pans and make loaves that fill the pan about halfway to the top. Let it rise again till it fills the pan. Bake at 350 45 minutes or an hour. Loaf will be golden colored and a bit hard on the outside. Dump it out on the counter and immediately butter the whole outside of the loaf. Top bottom and sides. That softens the crust. Let it cool. Heat up a jar of canned deer meat and cover a thick slice of it buttered. Better meal than you can get at the whitehouse.

Danny, that sounds great. I switched gears and baked it in a corning Dutch oven. Not sure how it will taste but it don't look half bad.

it looks great to me

i never use my dutch oven in the kitchen oven. i have used it many times on top the stove as a pot. when i bake in it it is outside with coals. mine has a flat lid to hold coals for baking

my daughter made bread today that also didn't rise right

Baguette , bread making has a few things you need to learn but not the least of which is adapting to your rise environment.

times and quantities are suggestions , you need to learn what your looking for and how to adjust for it.

in my daughters case I told her , she really needed a wet but rung out dish towel covering her rise and in a warmer place it was warm out today about 45 so almost no heat in the house , no woods stove but it was still dry a large bowl with a damp towel for first rise and a pan of hot water in the oven with the bread but oven off for the second rise.

it took getting my wife a digital thermometer to not kill the yeast , then sending her to a bread baking class at the local tech school for a continuing ed class in bread baking.

Like a few people mentioned, baking is an incredibly precise science. Yeast is a sensitive critter and anything from working the dough too much-too little, not letting it prove enough before baking or too much, water temp killing/hindering the yeast, etc. all are causes for poor end results. Something as simple as adding butter in can make it all wrong if it's not distributed properly or too much or not cut properly.

Well it did raise up pretty good and has a great flavor. It turned out more dense then I thought it would though. Was expecting it to be lighter and fluffy. I guess I'll keep tweaking things lol.

try triple the yeast and less water temp. turn up the heat in your kitchen so its about 80. can probably just turn the oven on when you start mixing it up to get the kitchen nice and warm. its the air bubbles made by yeast that make it light. couple tablespoons of sugar wont hurt either

Thanks danny, I will give that a go.

My wife cooks the bread. So no help from me. She bakes bread two or three times a week. The shape may change but it is always good. She has been baking bread for 30 years that I know of.

MJM, uhm, could you ask your Wife to get on here and help a feller out.

And I can't see pics again, what's happening???

You must add yeast at near room temperature or you can kill it. Ask me how I know. I gave up on beer making because of yeast frustrations.

Catch22 - My version turned out really good.

That looks great Jim. Was yours lite or dense like mine. Mine still looked and tasted great but hit the tummy like a brick lol.

Very dense, about wore me out eating it

But it sure was good warm with butter and honey.

Lol, mine too but with some honey butter I couldn't stop eating it. Guess we need to tweak it some!

It can be, but, certainly doesn't need to be. I learned the science at KSU, and the tricks by the seat of my pants.

If you were to read through Danny's method, and pay close attention to his embedded comments, you will be just fine.

Pay attention to the yeast, It is a living thing that needs food, and temperature within a fairly narrow range. Don't let it get carried away, a little salt will control it.

The liquid and flour quantities in any recipe are guidelines. A little experience will tell you if your dough is the right consistency. Add your flour a little at a time. You may use a little more or less than what the recipe calls for.

Kneading and stretching the dough makes for a strong loaf with nice uniform air chambers.

I do usually make my bread with honey instead of sugar. I never thought of honey butter spread over that. Now, that sounds good!

Catch.....do you wear an apron while doing this.....or no apron ...?

Oh I always wear a apron Nessy. Believe me, I'll never cook anything without one after the 2004 nekked bacon frying incident.

I have another loaf in the works. I have gone to a full teaspoon of yeast as it rises quicker, could be due to the altitude here. Got a big pot of pinto beans cooking also. Its gonna be fine dining here just like in Lonesome Dove.

I've made a few Jim and they are dense still, taste great though. I'm gonna lower the water temp on the next one and maybe add more yeast too. Your gonna be eating like a king tonight! I'll be making pinto beans, hamhocks and cornbread this weekend.

i just made meatloaf for dinner.a recipe is in no way a term to describe the process but bet it's mmm-mm good.

Not much of a baker.

Sorry I use an old bread machine.
Not 100% for sure.
Like stated fresh yeast , the correct salt / sugar ratio ( ratio can very ).
Dough consistency is a visual clue.

Hot and freshly torn, lathered with Amish style Honey Whipped Peanut Butter.

[quote=Dillrod]Not much of a baker.

Sorry I use an old bread machine.
Not 100% for sure.
Like stated fresh yeast , the correct salt / sugar ratio ( ratio can very ).
Dough consistency is a visual clue.

Hot and freshly torn, lathered with Amish style Honey Whipped Peanut Butter.[/quote]
Oh yeah! And I just started another loaf, Jim got me excited lol. Hopefully this one turns out so good ya wanna yell, Butter my butt and call me a biscuit.

Catch22 - I decided to not use parchment paper after reading what it is made out of and also that my dutch oven is well seasoned. I'm sure old cookie on the trail drive didn't have such a thing. The bread did not stick and the half hour cooking temp actually gave it the nice browning without having to cook it any extra with the lid off.

That looks good Jim, sure is a lot lighter then mine. I'm gonna go read about parchment paper now lol.

Catch22 - That was some fine dining tonight. Double up on the yeast and see how that works for you. I have also been keeping my water temp at 125 degrees.

I told my wife I liked her sisters buns better

That was a recipe for disaster

I'm warming up the oven right now. I did add a bit more yeast and my water was at 115. This one looked like it rose up more, we'll see. If this don't turn out better I think I'll add a pinch of sugar to it next time. I've got some honey butter callin my name lol.

So you have wifi in the shed huh.

No...I tell her that everytime her sis has us over for dinner

Couple times a year...Hahaha! True story.

Her sister is a master bread maker ......

To my wife recipes are dogma and can't be altered, to me they are rough guides at best. She makes the items that work for her and I make all the items from my home raised stuff that is always different from year to year be they spuds, tomatoes, salsa, juice and all the dishes I make with those items.

Bryce

Baking you can't really get away with that. It's more of an exact science. Pretty much everything else you can wing it...except for stuff that will kill you if you don't do it right. That's why a lot of chefs hate baking.

Much better, thanks for the yeast suggestion Jim. This is the best one yet!

That is why my wife does the the cookies, breads etc. I do a lot of the meat loaf baking but much of what I do is slow cooker stuff with multiple ingredients and lots of options.

Bryce

You'd be popular if you brought that to the fur auction Saturday

I use a recipe as a guide line,. I always think that if a little bit is good then a little bit more has to be better. I adjust recipes to my taste.

I agree and happy birthday!

Thanks, I forgot about the birthday. I reckon I need to edit my profile. I joined this group as a kid,. Where does time go?